Salt Lake City Council votes to recognize new Library union; adopts Black History Month resolution. 

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The Salt Lake City Council recognized February as Black History Month and approved a resolution giving city librarians the opportunity to unionize during their meeting Tuesday night. They also partially adopted a third budget amendment to the FY2025 budget.

Black History Month
The Council started Tuesday’s meeting by adopting a joint resolution with Mayor Erin Mendenhall naming February 2025 Black History Month in Salt Lake City.

“Black History Month must not change based on political or social trends,” Councilmember Dan Dugan read from the resolution. “We are honored to recognize and celebrate the heritage, perseverance and achievements of Black Americans in our nation’s history. … Their struggle is an American struggle, and we recognize that at its core, this struggle reflects upon our society.”

Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP Salt Lake branch, accepted the resolution alongside James Yapias, NAACP Salt Lake executive committee member.

“Thank you so very much to the City Council and to the Mayor,” Williams said. “This really means a lot to have the recognition coming from the Salt Lake City Council and the Mayor recognizing February as Black History Month.”

Library Union
The Council also unanimously passed a resolution that would allow Salt Lake City Library employees to unionize.

“We dedicate ourselves to supporting the communities we serve. Many of us don't enter library work to get rich,” Bryce Hayes, a Salt Lake City Library employee, said in a public comment before the resolution’s adoption. “We do this because we value the resources, programs and services libraries provide, and because we deeply care about the communities in which we live and work.”

Library workers first began efforts to unionize in 2023, but the city lacked a formal process for Library management to bargain with unions. Last December, the Salt Lake City Public Library System Board of Directors voted to approve the resolution allowing employees to unionize, sending it to the city for action.

Before voting on the resolution, Councilmember Sarah Young took a chance to speak to a group of library employees in the audience.

“Thank you for fighting and bringing this forward,” she said. “I am so proud of every single one of you and excited for the next steps that come from you having this collective voice to be able to advocate and move forward.”

The resolution’s adoption was met with a round of applause. However, its timing comes as the Utah Legislature is pushing a union-busting bill through the Capital. HB267 would prohibit public sector labor unions from bargaining. It has passed both chambers of the Legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature or veto.

“[There’s] a lot going on right now that makes it hard to feel like celebrating, but I think this is a great win,” Councilmember Chris Wharton said before the resolution’s vote. “It's something that I'm also very excited to vote for and congratulate you for all the hard work that it took to get you to this place.”

Budget Amendment
The Council also held a public hearing and partially adopted a third budget amendment to the FY25 budget. The amendment includes 21 items that amount to more than $21.7 million in expenditures.

One of the items in this amendment is a transfer of $3.9 million from the city’s Surplus Property Account into a new account for the redevelopment of Fleet Block, located between 800 South and 900 South and between 300 West and 400 West. This money would go towards the design and construction of midblock streets that would bisect the block.

The amendment also included a request from Councilmember Dan Dugan to use $150,000 of the General Fund to treat diseased sycamore trees. A staff report on the proposal said residents have reported sick trees in Liberty Park, the Avenues, Sugar House and Yalecrest.

“I just really wanted to thank Councilman Dugan for proposing the money for these sycamore trees up in our area,” Becky Woods said during the amendment’s hearing.

Another item in the amendment is the creation of a Justice Bus, or mobile courtroom, using money donated by the Utah Bar Foundation. The bus would be modeled after Ohio’s Justice Bus, which operates as a mobile legal aid office.

Commenter Bernie Hart was skeptical of the project and its effect on the homeless population of Salt Lake.

“It's like the city doesn't care about people on the street to go through the court system or under the jails,” he said.

Other items include a grant worth $2.2 million to acquire land in the Great Salt Lake Watershed for conservation, more than $400,000 to repave and add bike lanes to Main Street between North Temple and 300 North, and nearly $200,000 for new city vehicles.

The only budget item the Council formally adopted was a request to hire a new full-time cybersecurity engineer for the City’s Information Management Services Department, deferring action on the remaining requests to another date.